| OCR Text |
Show Arnand.a B. Smith - page o "Afte rward s this Willi am Mann showed the boots on his own feet in Far West sayin g: 'Here is a pair of boots that I pulle d off befor e the d--d tb:rno n was done kicki ng! ' "The murd erer Glaze also roast ed over the coun try, as a hero ic deed , . the blow ing off the head of my young son. "I renov ed the wounded boy to a house , some dista nce off, the next day, and dress ed his hip; the Lord direc ting ne as befo re. I was remin ded that in my husb arrl's trunk there was a bottl e of balsa m. This I :poured into the wound, grea tly sooth ing Alna 's pain. "'Aln a, my child ,' I said, 'you belie ve that the Lord made your hip?' "'Yes , futhe r. 1 "'We ll, the Lord can make sOIIE thing there Don t you belie ve he can, Alna ?' I ll1 the place of your hip. "'Do you think that the Lord can, futhe r?' inqui red the child in his simp licity . '"Yes , my son,' I repli ed, 'he has showed it all to rre in a visio n. 1 "Then I laid him comf ortab ly on his face, and said: 'Now you lay like that, and don' t nove , and the Lord will make you anoth er hip.' Amanda B. Smith - page 7 "All the furno ns in the neigh borho od had fled out of the state , exce pting a few fami lies of the berea ved warren and child ren who had gathe red at the house of Broth er David Evan s two miles from the scene of the mass acre. To this house Alma had been carri ed after that fatal nigh t. "In our utter desol ation , what could we worren do but pray? Pray er was our only sourc e of comf ort ; our Heav enly Fath er our only helpe r. None but He could save and deliv er us. "One day a nobb er cane from the mill with the capt ain's fiat: "'The capta in says if you wonen don' t stop your d--d pray er he will send down a :posse and kill every d--d one of you! ' "And he migh t as well have done it as to stop us poor women prayi ng in that hour of our great calam ity. "Our praye rs were hushe d in terro r. We dared not let our voice s be heard in the house in supp licat ion. I could pray in my bed or in silen ce, but I could not live thus long. 'lhis godle ss silen ce was nore intol erab le than had been that nigh t of the mass acre. "I could bear it no longe r. I pined to hear once nore my own voice in petit ion to my Heav enly Fath er. "So Alna laid on his face for five week s, until he w.-ls entir ely recov ered- -a flexi ble grist le havin g grown in place of th< ~ miss ing joint and sock et, which renai ns to this day a marv el to phys ician s. "I stole down into a corn field , and craw led into a 'stou t of corn 1 • It was as the terrp le of the lord tone at that norre nt. I prayErl aloud and nost ferve ntly. "On the day that he walke d again I was out of the house fetch ing a buc::ket of wate r when I heard screa ms from the child ren. Runn ing back , in affri ght, I enter ed and t.here was Alma on the floor , danc ing aroun d and the child ren screa ming in aston ishrr ent and joy. "When I energ ed from the corn a voice s:poke tone . It was a voice as plain as I ever heard one. It was no silen t, stron g impr essio n of the spir it, but a voice , repea ting a verse of the Sain t's hymn: "It is now nearl y forty years ago, but Alna has neve r been the least cripp led durin g his life, and he has trave led quite a long perio d of the time as a missi onary of the gosp el and a livin g mira cle of the powe r of C'::iCXi. The news of the M:):rnon Mira cle sprea d far and near and after Amanda went to Quinc y, Illin ois, she was visit ed by five phys ician s sent by a board of docto rs in St. Louis who had heard of the case and wishe d to inve stiga te. Afte r watch ing the actio n of the hip as he walk ed, they decla red it a comp lete myst ery. They could not unde rstan d what kind of comb inatio n it was the supp lied stren gth and actio n for the bone was gone. A sort of grist le had partl y supp lied the place as stron g as the othe r leg and as activ e thoug h there and it was just was a depre ssion easil y detec ted throu gh his cloth ing. 'Ihey asked the narre of the surge on who had perfo rme:i the wond erful piece of surge ry. Arnand.a said, "Jesu s Chri st." 'Ihey said not the Savio ur of the World ; she repli ed, "Yes, the same sir, He was the Phys ician and I was the nurse ." "I cann ot leave the tragi c story witho ut relat ing sorre incid ents of those five week s when I was a priso ner with :rey woun ded boy in Miss ouri, near the scene of the mass acre, unab le to obey t.he orde r of exter mina tion. "Tha t soul who on Jesus hath leane d for rep:J se, I cann ot, I will not asse rt to its foes; That soul, thoug h all hell shou ld endea vor to shake , I' 11 neve r, : no . neve r, no neve r forsa ke! 11 "From that rrorrent I had no nore fear. I felt that nothi ng could hurt me. Soon after this the nob sent us word that unles s we \\Jere all out of the state by a certa in day we shoul d be kille d. "The day came and at even ing carre fifty arned rren to exec ute the sente nce. "I rret them at the door. 'lhey demanded of ne why I was not gone. I bade them ente r and see their own work . They crc:M ded into :rey room and I showed them my wounded boy. They came , party after party , unti l all had seen my excus e. Then they quar reled anong them selve s and carre near to fight ing. "At last they went away, all but two. to kill us. Then the two retur ned. These I thoug ht were deta iled "'Mad am,' said one, 'have you any neat in the hous e?' "'No ,' was my reply . |
